Issue date: 4/14/08 Section: City/State

Media Credit: Peter Lucak DRINK UP | Last Saturday, Porky's Bar in Chelsea hosted a beer pong tournament as the first of 17 stops on the tour.

People over a certain age might think ping-pong balls have one use. Think again, Grandpa.

Last Saturday, the first leg of a 17-stop beer pong tour extravaganza was held at Porky's Bar in Chelsea. The bouncer at the bar described Porky's as a place where "a lot of people get ripped."

The event was dominated by males under 25 with shaved or spiked hair, gold chains and tight shirts. Fifty teams with names such as "Ballsack" and "Team RamRod" were vying for first place bragging rights and a trip to Las Vegas to compete in the World Championship of Beer Pong.

Sam Pines, the World Pong Tour's organizer, has been putting on beer pong competitions since 2006. "I'm trying to make this a big sport," Pines said. Pines wants to turn beer pong from a casual game into a daily habit, with cash tournaments at local bars everywhere.

For those young people who have been living under a rock for their high school and college careers, beer pong is a drinking game in which opponents try to throw ping-pong balls into cups at the opposite end of a table. When the opposing duo tosses a ball into one of your cups, you take a drink. A team wins by eliminating all ten of their opponents' cups.

Although many people enjoy the drinking side of beer pong, contestants don't have to drink to play. "We can't force anyone to drink," Pines said. "Technically, it's illegal."

One team, consisting of T.J. Lazarus and Nick Manfredo, didn't drink beer while playing because of health reasons. "If you're good at this game, you get fat quick," Lazarus said. Instead, they took sips of liquor every time an opponent eliminated one of their cups. "Got to cut down on the carbs," Manfredo said.

Some contestants were angry that their competition didn't drink. "It's cheating if you don't drink," contender Gabe Tramiel said. Tramiel said part of the game is holding your booze as the tournament progresses.

Pines will be holding 16 more tournaments all over New York State in the coming months. To find out more about the World Pong Tour, visit worldpongtour.com.


Teddy Leshnick is a contributing writer. E-mail him at citystate@nyunews.com.

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